When Love Becomes the Norm
The past two months have been a whirlwind of emotions. Not only was it Christmas (you probably already know how I feel about that), but my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There is rarely any good news with this type of cancer, and so far, my mom has not been the exception.
However, one of the things I have been incredibly thankful for throughout this entire process has been the support of our church, and especially my parents' church in Milton. I’m constantly reminded that people are praying for her, that we are loved, and that there are people here to help us with whatever we need. But my parents have been shown an entirely different level of support. Members of their small group have come and sat with her in the hospital. They’ve waited with my dad during surgery, brought food, ensured my dad went home and showered, and when they heard my sister was flying in, they catered a meal for us all to share.
I am beyond thankful for the love that their church has shown my parents. But the recurring thought I have is that this shouldn’t be surprising; it should be the norm. There are only two ways to get there.
The first is that our small groups need to be a place where people genuinely care for each other. That almost happens naturally just by spending an hour or two together each week, but going out to lunch after church or catching a game together on the weekend goes so much further in building those connections. My parents haven’t bragged about how the senior pastor stopped by (even though he has), but they can’t stop telling others about the laypeople who have taken the time to visit. Both types of visits are important in their own way, but one seems almost more obligatory and therefore not as special. Small groups are where you can truly build community and come together to support one another through the highs and lows of life.
That brings us to the second thing that must happen to get to this point. You must actually be in a small group. I know, it’s a radical idea. But unless you intentionally position yourself to be surrounded by people who will care for you, what hope do you have?
The hard part about small groups is that you don’t join them just so you have a support system or so you can help others. We do them to ultimately grow closer to God. But in the process, we form community, then support others in that community, and when the worst things in life come our way, we find ourselves being supported.
So, while I have appreciated and will always remember the love and support you all have shown me over the past few months, the best way to help at the moment is to make sure that everyone in our church is taken care of the same way. Invest in their lives. Invite them to your small group. Start your own small group. Then take care of each other the way you would want to be taken care of. Jesus may have said something about that at one point.
The Grinch Who Lit Up Christmas
I am taking a break from untangling hundreds of feet of extension cords, testing light bulbs, and all other forms of self loathing to write this blog. Trust me, this is a much more pleasant experience than having to deal with Christmas lights. It’s no secret that I’m not the most festive individual. Many of you find joy in the irony that the grinchiest person on staff is also the person who does the light show every year.
There are two reasons why I keep putting lights up every year. The first is that no one else has offered to take it over. But the other reason is that it actually brings joy to other people. My youngest son loves going up to the church at night just to watch the show even though he’s seen it a hundred times. We get comments from the community making sure we’re going to do it again or sharing stories of how their family enjoys it.
But there’s a bigger reason why the church itself does a Christmas light show every year. Throughout the course of the month, the Christmas story from the Bible will be shared about 500 times. People will be invited to our Christmas Eve services, breakfast with Santa, and other events throughout the month hundreds of times. It’s all about pointing people towards Jesus, and so I can deal with a bit of Christmas lights for the sake of the Gospel.
What are you willing to put up with for the sake of the gospel? Are you willing to invite a friend or neighbor to go to church with you? Are you willing to give up your morning Starbucks drink so you can focus more on tithing? What about waking up 15 minutes earlier so you can meet people at the church door and say hello? Some of these things may seem like torture (less caffeine… yuck!), but when you consider the difference it could make it suddenly seems less terrible. That $5 Starbucks drink turns into food security for a kid over the weekend. That 15 minutes of lost sleep turns into a family feeling welcomed and accepted before they even step foot into our building. And the awkwardness of inviting our friends to church becomes a larger family who gets to do even more together. And all of that, ALL OF IT, is so that we can be just a little bit better at making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Who’s My Enemy?
There’s a joke I’ve heard since I was a kid. A man arrives at the gates of heaven, and St. Peter asks, "What’s your religion?" The man replies, "Methodist." St. Peter checks his list and says, "Alright, head to Room 24, but please be very quiet as you pass Room 8." Soon, another man approaches. "What’s your religion?" asks St. Peter. "Lutheran," the man responds. "Go to Room 18, but again, be sure to stay quiet by Room 8," St. Peter instructs. A third man comes to the gates. "Religion?" St. Peter asks. "Presbyterian," the man says. "Go to Room 11, but make sure to keep it down when you pass Room 8." Curious, the man asks, "Why do I need to be so quiet near Room 8?" St. Peter leans in and whispers, "Well, that’s where the Baptists are, and they think they’re the only ones here.”
Of course, this joke always got a laugh because the baptists were the punchline of every church joke. When service finished early it was so we could beat the baptists to church. One thing I’ve had to come to grips with is that these jokes, while entirely meant to be light hearted and fun with no nefarious intentions, helped me to form an unconscious bias against the baptists. They became the enemy denomination. As a a result, I can list off several issues I have with the baptist theology and how I think they have horrible practices.
But one thing I want to be adamantly clear about, Baptists are not the enemy. While we disagree on several fronts, they have the same goal as Methodists do: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. I think you would find that we have far more in common than we have differences, it’s just that we take so many of our similarities for granted. I mean, when’s the last time you even thought about the fact that we both worship on Sundays instead of Saturdays? While that seems like a weird thing to bring up, there are other denominations that vehemently disagree with us about worshiping on Sundays. They aren’t the enemy either.
What is easy to reason out but hard to live as if it were true is that most people are not our enemies. It feels like the stakes in the denomination disagreements are small so it’s easier to talk about, but the hard truth is that those whom you disagree with politically are also not your enemy. You may think that you couldn’t possibly agree with anything that the other party stands for, but I would like to believe that if you had an honest, non-confrontational conversation with them, you would find that some core goals are still the same even if their approaches are diametrically opposed. Just like Methodists and Baptists both have a mission of making disciples, both major political parties are trying to create the best America they can.
With that being said (even if not believed), John Wesley gave us three rules for how we should vote. And as we enter into the final stretch before the election, I particularly hope that we can live into number three.
To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy;
To speak no evil for the person they voted against;
To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those on the other side.
Post-Its Have Nothing On You
When you attend one of our traditional services, you’ll likely see Jamel standing there, holding an old red hymnal with dozens of colorful pieces of paper sticking out of the top. These are the Post-it notes he uses to mark the hymns the choir is singing that week, along with some of the other classics we sing often.
Interestingly, Post-it notes were designed for this very purpose. Art Fry, who worked at 3M, also sang in his church choir. Between Wednesday night rehearsals and Sunday morning services, his bookmarks would fall out of his hymnal. One of his coworkers had developed microspheres—a slightly sticky material that easily detached from surfaces. The idea had seemed so impractical that it went nowhere for years until Fry realized this slightly sticky substance was perfect for marking hymns in his hymnal. Now, we see Post-it notes everywhere, including in Jamel’s hymnal.
What stands out to me most about this origin story is that this sticky substance existed for so long and could have easily stayed unutilized. Our lives would be far worse off without Post-it notes (okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration). However, I am convinced that each and every one of you reading this blog is far more useful than slightly sticky microspheres. Your skill set, your personality, even just your physical presence in the room makes an impact on the kingdom of God. The big question is whether you are willing to use your gifts in an intentional way. There is a place for you, and even if you don’t see where or how yet, we can help. We’d love to talk to you about putting your gifts and graces to work in the best possible way. Feel free to find one of the staff members, mark your connect card, or even email us.
Let Them Eat Cake
Elijah has to be one of the coolest people in the Bible. I think because we now have the stories of Jesus, we forget how amazing Elijah actually was. When we look at his life, it’s easy to see why people wondered if Jesus was Elijah reincarnated. Raising people to life? Yep. Multiplying food? Yep. Fasting for 40 days? Seems counterproductive to multiplying food, but also yes.
The pinnacle of his ministry is when he faced 450 prophets of Baal in an epic showdown on Mt. Carmel. However, the story that gets preached on the most is when he’s hiding in a cave waiting for the Lord to show up. There was wind, an earthquake, and fire before the Lord showed up in a gentle whisper.
But there are a few verses connecting these two stories that are vastly misunderstood. After Elijah called down fire from heaven and then had 450 prophets of Baal killed, he ran away when he heard that the queen wanted him dead. The usual thought process is that this is Elijah’s biggest failure, that he had just done one of the mightiest deeds and now cowers before a woman (with full misogyny intended by these people).
In recent years, we have become more familiar with a concept known as crisis fatigue. After major events in our lives that cause stress, our bodies will do things to adapt to that stress. Besides the physical changes to our body that can occur, other symptoms include physical and mental exhaustion, changes in sleep, changes in appetite, and feeling numb or empty. Read these following verses with crisis fatigue in mind:
Then [Elijah] went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”
I don’t think this passage describes a moral or faith failing on Elijah’s part like most people would have you believe. When you look at it through a crisis fatigue lens, it checks off all the boxes and becomes one of the most natural reactions possible. What I think is most important, though, is God’s reaction to Elijah’s fatigue. There was no condemnation. In fact, in most translations, there was cake. God let him sleep and gave him comfort food. Then there was more sleep and more cake.
For 40 days, God let Elijah recoup before coming to him in that gentle whisper. In that conversation, there was still no condemnation but rather a plan laid out to give Elijah next steps and the promise of help. Don’t freak out if you find yourself having the same thoughts that Elijah had. You are not alone in your feelings, and God has made sure that you don’t need to be physically alone by preparing people to be in your life to support you. And if it helps, apparently eating cake is a God-approved means of recovery.